1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a memory storage device and a method for protecting the data therein, and more particularly to a memory storage device with a fingerprint sensor and a method for protecting the data stored therein. The invention also correlates to the patent applications to the some of the inventors: (a) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/160,519 filed on Jun. 1, 2002, and entitled “METHOD FOR PARTITIONING MEMORY MASS STORAGE DEVICE”; (b) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/403,052, filed on Apr. 1, 2003, entitled “CAPACITIVE FINGERPRINT SENSOR,” and published on Oct. 9, 2003 as U.S. 20030190061A1; (c) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/434,833, filed on May 13, 2003, entitled “PRESSURE TYPE FINGERPRINT SENSOR FABRICATION METHOD,” and published on Nov. 20, 2003 as 20030215976A1; (d) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/414,214, filed on Apr. 16, 2003, and entitled “THERMOELECTRIC SENSOR FOR FINGERPRINT THERMAL IMAGING”; and (e) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/638,371, filed on Aug. 12, 2003, and entitled “CAPACITIVE MICRO PRESSURE SENSING MEMBER AND FINGERPRINT SENSOR USING THE SAME”.
2. Description of the Related Art
The conventional method for protecting the personal data is often made by way of password protection. However, using the password to protect the personal data is troublesome because the user tends to forget the password and the password may also be dangerously cracked. Hence, the biometrics identification methods based on the biometrics data particular to the personal, such as the fingerprint, voice, signature, and iris, have been gradually developed in order to provide the more complete and effective data protection methods. The advantages are that the biometric feature is always kept on the user and the user does not need to memorize the feature, the biometric feature cannot be stolen, and the fingerprint biometrics feature protection method is strict and very convenient.
Recently, owing to the invention of the chip-type fingerprint sensor, the miniaturized electrical product incorporated with the fingerprint identification device becomes the technology that can be implemented. The associated technology can be found in the above-mentioned (b) to (e) patents. Thus, span personal applications, such as the portable electrical products with the fingerprint identification function, have been developed.
More particularly, the aspect of the storage medium protection is an important development item incorporated with the biometrics identification method. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,985 issued on Apr. 15, 1986 has disclosed a storage medium protection method, in which the personal data stored in the personal ID card device is protected by way of fingerprint authentication. The protected data stored in the card device can be outputted for the subsequent processing or authentication procedures only after the fingerprint identification procedure passes. The transversal dimension of this device is the same as that of the generally used credit card. This device, which is a completely independent fingerprint identification device because the fingerprint capture and identification are performed in the same device, includes a fingerprint sensor, an image processing and identification module, and a memory. Although the application object thereof is to prevent the personal credit card from being counterfeited, this device has a high price because the image processing and identification module needs a high-level microprocessor, such as a 32-bit RISC processor or DSP chip, in addition to the fingerprint sensor is needed, which causes the independent identification device not easy to be popularized.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,403 discloses a storage device having a fingerprint sensor and utilizing the PCMCIA interface to connect to the computer. Similarly, the concept of this device is almost the same as that of the '985 patent because this device is also an independent fingerprint identification device, which possesses the fingerprint capture and identification functions, and the data stored in the storage device can be accessed only when the fingerprint authentication passes. The only one difference therebetween is that the '403 patent utilizes a standard PCMCIA interface. Meanwhile, the card of the PCMCIA device is completely inserted into the computer slot. Consequently, the '403 patent has to expose the fingerprint sensor device for usage according to the complicated mechanism designs, which may increase the unstability and cost of the mechanism.
Similarly, EP124079A1 patent discloses the data protection concept of an independent fingerprint identification module, which is the same as the '985 and '403 patents except for that the communication interface of the '079 patent is the golden finger configuration that is for the SD card interface.
WO 02/42887A2 patent discloses the data protection concept of an independent fingerprint identification module, which is the same as the '985, '403, and '079 patents except for that the '887 patent utilizes the USB interface to communicate with the terminal system. This device is similar to the flash memory disk that is popular over the market, but this device has the independent fingerprint processing and identification module.
U.S. Patent publication number 2003/005337 discloses the data protection concept of an independent fingerprint identification module, which is the same as the '985, '403, and '079 patents, and utilizes the USB as the communication interface. Similarly, the device of '337 patent is also an independent fingerprint identification device.
GB2387933 patent also discloses an independent fingerprint identification device, which has a concept and device design almost similar to those of the '887 and '337 patents, wherein the fingerprint capture and identification are performed in the same device.
Heretofore, the prior arts have a common feature of providing an independent fingerprint identification device including a fingerprint sensor, and a fingerprint image processing and identification IC. Such a design is intuitive and easily implemented and there is no need to install the fingerprint application program in the terminal system and the convenience of plug-and-play function may be provided. However, the prior art devices have an important problem of the high prices because a fingerprint image processing and identification IC and its associated memory components have to be utilized. Usually, the IC is the 32-bit RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) or DSP (Digital Signal Processor) so as to perform the fingerprint identification effectively. Consequently, the conventional portable storage device with a fingerprint sensor has the drawback of high cost.
In order to solve the high cost problem, it is preferred to utilize the microprocessor of the terminal system to execute the fingerprint image processing and identification so as to effectively reduce the cost. However, the prior arts had not definitely disclosed the solution to the method. The reason will be described in the following.
If the fingerprint image processing and identification works are to be transferred from the storage device to the microprocessor of the terminal system, the disclosed device must have the functions of causing the fingerprint application program, which includes the fingerprint image processing, identification and encrypting/decrypting sub-programs, and a fingerprint matching program, to be automatically run or executed in the terminal system so as to achieve the plug-and-play function and facilitate the usage in any other terminal system. The above-mentioned prior arts, however, do not provide this solution.
Alternatively, as shown in U.S. Patent Publication Number 2003/005337, it is possible to install the fingerprint processing and identification programs in the terminal system. Such a design, however, disables the user from using the device over various terminal systems, or the user has to spend time to laboriously install the driver and application programs first in the terminal systems before using. The conventional method is to provide an optical disk for storing the drivers for the memory and the drivers for the fingerprint sensor of the storage device so that the user can install the suitable drivers and enable the storage device to be used. In this case, each time when the computer systems are firstly set, the user has to carry the portable storage device together with the optical disk so that he or she can use the storage device in other computer systems. Although it is possible to download the driver through the network, it is not a convenient way because some computers cannot connect to the network.
Thus, it is an important subject of the invention to provide a storage device with a fingerprint sensor and a method for protecting the data therein. The first feature of this invention is to utilize the processor of the terminal system for the fingerprint process and identification. Thus, the hardware cost of the device can be greatly reduced, and the device may be popularized. The second feature of this invention is to provide a function of causing the driver and the fingerprint application program including the fingerprint matching program to be completely and automatically run without installing the driver and program in the terminal system first. Because the firmware of the USB controller, the fingerprint identification and processing software, and the associated APs (application programs) are integrated together, the invention device can be used in various terminal systems, especially the computer devices, having various operation systems in a plug-and-play manner and supporting various operation systems of various languages without installing any driver or identification software in the terminal systems first.
Meanwhile, the personal data is encrypted and then stored in the memory of the device, and the data format and content in the memory cannot be correctly acquired even though the memory is removed.